Breitling Super Avenger 01 Boutique Edition

While there is very little that could be called subtle about this weighty, 48-mm timepiece, the details denoting the Super Avenger 01 as a limited edition qualify, namely the red “Edition Limitée” inscription above the 6 o’clock subdial, and the red sections of track on the periphery of the 3 o’clock subdial. The dial, in Breitling’s hallmark “Volcano Black,” features the familiar three-register arrangement, with tone-on-tone, snailed subdials at 3 o’clock, for the 30-minute chrono counter, 6 o’clock for the 12-hour chrono counter, and 9 o’clock for the running seconds. Picking up the details of the dial, the central chronograph seconds hand is also in red, and tallies elapsed times to 1/4 second. The date appears in a window at 4:30; the hour and minute hands and the applied hour indices are all suitably large and legible, with luminescent coating.

Ticking beneath a special caseback engraved with a vintage-look pin-up and a “Special Delivery” inscription, is the aforementioned Caliber 01, Breitling’s first in-house movement. Its features include automatic winding, an integrated chronograph function, a high-frequency of 28,800 vph (hence the 1/4-second timekeeping precision), a 70-hour power reserve, and most importantly for those accuracy stickler, a COSC chronometer certification. The movement is protected inside the 300-meter water-resistant steel case, which is enhanced with a unidirectional, ratcheted rotating bezel with Breitling’s characteristic rider tabs; screwed-in push-piece guards for the chronograph pushers and a screw-locked crown; and a curved sapphire crystal glare-proofed on both sides. The whole ensemble comes mounted on a steel bracelet in Breitling’s recognizable “Professional” style and retails for $7,800.